


Together in the Garden

by GaleWrites



Category: Nevermind (Video Game)
Genre: Before and After, Canon Trans Character, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence (canon-typical), wholesome friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28127181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaleWrites/pseuds/GaleWrites
Summary: Sometimes you find family where you least expect it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Together in the Garden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Coffin Liqueur (HP_Lovecats)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HP_Lovecats/gifts).



The patient’s lobby in the Nevermind institute was pleasant and soothing, in the center of a vast greenhouse that Natalie had been told housed all of the doctor’s offices looped around. She’d seen the doorways, but the whole place seemed eerily silent. She hadn’t seen any other patients, any staff unrelated to her case walking around looking for their own patients or just taking a walk. It was just her, the many plants surrounding her, and the sound of flowing water from the room’s many fountains, from the large one in the center to the small one only a foot or so high in the tucked away little nook she’d chosen for herself. 

The room was full of such nooks, and so realistically there could be dozens of people all hidden away like her, not wanting to see anyone or be seen themselves. She certainly didn’t want to be seen. The world outside of her apartment was large and full of terrors, and she felt certain that everyone she saw was judging her, mocking her in their minds, or worse, feeling sorry for the helpless, gawky woman who would clearly never fit in.

It didn’t help that she’d brought her dowdiest, most comfortable clothes. As far as Charles knew, she was on a spa retreat with some of the girls, quiet and relaxing, with no men and no reason to want to look good. If she’d brought anything that looked decent, he never would have let her go in the first place. He never would have believed the truth, of course.

So she sat there in ugly cotton shorts and a sweatshirt that was a couple sizes too big, wishing she could vanish into the greenery entirely. This whole thing had been a mistake, even if the people here really had been very kind. The problem, after all, wasn’t in her mind, it was in her-

“Oh! My apologies.” A dignified looking older woman in a practical black dress said after stepping into Natalie’s little nook. “I did not realize anyone else was here. Would you mind if I joined you? This little fountain is the most musical in the room, and I find it quite soothing.”

Natalie stared at her for a minute, but the woman didn’t seem to be disgusted by her. Maybe her vision was bad? “I… sure. There’s room for both of us I think.” She gestured at the other bench in the nook, on the other side of the fountain.

The woman smiled at her. “I appreciate that, my dear. I would not want to make you uncomfortable. We are all here for healing, after all. Even if, in my case, there’s very little point.”

Natalie found the woman’s accent strangely soothing, musical in it’s ups and downs with a vaguely Germanic tone that seemed to soften it instead of making it stereotypically harsh. “Mine as well.” She found herself saying with a gentle smile. “But my friends found it very important for me to come.”

The other woman looked concerned. “But you are young! You have your whole life ahead of you! So many possibilities for the future.”

Natalie looked down with a sigh. “No, I know what my life will be. I’m not as young as you seem to think. 

“Far younger than me. And hopefully without a clear expiration date, like myself.” The old woman sighed wistfully.

“You don’t look  _ that _ old.” Natalie replied, concerned.

“Oh, well, I will. Alzheimers starts slow, of course, but…” The woman shrugged, and something about it broke Natalie’s heart.

“Do they treat alzheimers here?” She asked tentatively

The old woman shook her head. “I am afraid not. There is no treatment for that, not really. My friends… they were concerned about other things, and begged me to come here, as you say yours did for you.”

Natalie nodded. “It’s sweet of them to worry, but… some things just can’t be fixed by therapy, right? Even fancy high tech therapy.”

“Precisely so.” The old woman nodded. “I am Claudia, by the way. My apologies for not introducing myself sooner.”

“It’s… good to meet you, Claudia. I’m Natalie.” She smiled at her. “I don’t get out much, I don’t meet many new people.”

Claudia nodded understandingly. “I was always much the same. Always caught up in my work.”

Natalie shifted awkwardly in her seat. “What do you do?”

She smiled. “I am a pianist. Or, perhaps was. It’s likely time for me to retire.” 

“Oh, wow!” Natalie smiled at her, leaning forward with interest. “I always wanted to learn to play piano. It’s such a beautiful, elegant instrument.”

“It’s never too late to learn.” Claudia told her gently. “I have been considering giving lessons, while I still can. Would you like my card?”

Natalie hesitated, mind flickering through all of the things Charles would say about this. That it was an excuse to go out and betray him, that she was wasting time that should be spent taking care of him and their apartment, that it was a waste of money, that she would never be graceful or coordinated enough to play piano properly. But, she nodded shyly anyway. “I would, yes. I can’t promise I’ll do it, but it would be good to know I had someone kind to teach me, if I did.”

Claudia handed her a card with a smile. “Don’t be shy. I don’t particularly need the money, so I can work with whatever you can afford. It would just be nice to stay busy.”

“I just don’t know if I’ll have time.” Natalie told her, a little embarrassed. She knew that ‘my boyfriend wouldn’t like it’ was a strange thing to say about something like piano lessons. “But thank you.”

“Of course. But please, make time for yourself in some way. It’s more important than you think.”

Natalie would have replied, but Doctor Wells found her and called her in, so instead she left the waiting room thinking worriedly about the sad old woman she was leaving behind.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the surprise success in her ‘neuroprobing’, Natalie didn’t know what to do with herself. At the encouragement of her delighted friends and the doctors on her case, she agreed to stay longer. She had her laptop with her, she could work from her room here as well or better than she could have at home or staying with one of her friends, where she’d have been having to figure out how to rearrange her life alone, without letting Charles talk her into staying, while not falling behind on her work so she could continue to afford a new place.

With Doctor Wells’ help, she’d written him an email informing him that she was in a mental health treatment facility and would be home soon. She would have preferred to tell him she was never coming home, but she had a few precious things he had not yet destroyed, and she hoped that she would be able to retrieve them unscathed.

Charles was still mad, of course, but she’d been careful to frame it in a way that he was inclined to accept. ‘I’ve been thinking about why I keep failing you as a partner, and I realized that I needed to seek counseling to deal with my own issues before I can truly be the woman you deserve.’ He made some truly disgusting comments about that, but he agreed he could manage on his own for another week ‘since she was so slow, she’d need the time’. It infuriated her, but she found that the rage was a welcome change from the fear and meek acceptance she’d felt before.

She’d all but forgotten the kindhearted pianist she’d met in all the excitement, but a few days later Claudia found her again in the little fountain nook. “Might I join you again? You were such pleasant company last time.”

“Oh, Claudia! Hello, yes, please join me!” Natalie told her, far more enthusiastic than was probably warranted. Seeing her reminded her of just one more aspect of her freedom that she had yet to consider. She could do what she liked! She could take piano lessons, or learn yoga, or any new hobby she wanted.

“It is good to see you as well.” Claudia replied, easing herself into the bench opposite. “You seem to be doing well today. Might I hazard a guess that you have also benefited more from this odd sort of therapy than expected?”

Claudia nodded a bit sheepishly. “I’m so glad I was wrong. I’m glad you were wrong too, you said this was helping you? That’s wonderful!”

She noticed now that Claudia seemed twenty years younger, sitting straighter in a way Natalie recognized as mirroring the way she herself seemed to have had a huge weight taken off of her shoulders.

“I… yes. It will not cure me, but… It is amazing what this has done. I am planning my teaching career between sessions, I have a new lease on life.”

Natalie smiles at her. “I think I will have to take you up on those lessons. I ah… I’m rearranging my life a bit. I think I’ll have time after all.”

“I am very glad to hear it, my dear.” Claudia smiled back. “I am glad to know I will have a friendly face among my students. Someone just doing this for the love of the instrument, not for ambition.”

“To be honest, it’s been way too long since I’ve done something just for the joy of it. But I will definitely give you a call once I’ve finished taking my life back.”   
  
“Please do.” Claudia told her warmly. “And… if you just need a friendly face, once we’re back in the world, you are welcome to call me. I don’t know what precisely you are going through, or what kind of support you have, but I would welcome the excuse to get out and do things unrelated to my work every once in a while as well.”

“I… might take you up on that.” Natalie told her gratefully, blinking back sudden tears. “Thank you.”


End file.
